


Victory Always Comes at a Cost

by IChallengeMyFate (Ealdremen)



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-14
Updated: 2015-02-14
Packaged: 2018-03-12 06:01:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3346193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ealdremen/pseuds/IChallengeMyFate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Separated from the others and desperate for a miracle, Inigo and Brady fight off hordes of Risen in the ruins of Ylisstol.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Victory Always Comes at a Cost

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on ichallengemyfate.tumblr.com. Sort of Future Past-esque.

Getting separated had been the worst thing to happen today, and that was saying something, considering how they had almost died at least three times in the past hour alone.

Inigo held his sword at the ready, his face and clothes drenched with a mix of sweat and blood. No matter how many Risen he cut through, more just kept popping up. Behind him, standing on the stairs that led to the castle’s ruined main entrance, Brady trembled in fear. Although Inigo was grateful he had Brady to patch up his wounds, not even the best healer in the world could stave off the fatigue of fighting wave after wave of Risen.

“T-They just keep comin’!” Brady groaned in dismay as three more Risen lumbered towards them, dragging their weapons behind them.

“If only they were hordes of lovely ladies instead,” said Inigo.

He flashed Brady what he hoped was a reassuring smile. Brady slammed the end of his staff on the stone stairs. The sound made Inigo jolt in alarm. Brady had hit the ground so hard that Inigo was almost afraid the brittle-looking staff would snap from the force.

“Damn it, Inigo! Now ain’t the time for yer crappy jokes!”

“Sorry, sorry. Just trying to… lighten the mood.” Steadying himself, he took a deep breath and charged into the fray.

The first of the Risen went down easily. The undead swordsman hadn’t even had the chance to raise his weapon before Inigo had impaled him. When that one’s body had vanished, Inigo turned on the second swordsman. This one jabbed at his face. He ducked and stabbed past the poorly-armored warrior’s defenses. The second Risen hobbled back in pain, and Inigo withdrew his sword as the undead started to dissipate before him.

“Inigo! Behind ya!”

When he turned around, Inigo saw a Risen raising a lance to run him through. He raised his own sword in hopes of deflecting the blow. The lance stopped mere inches away from his blade, and the Risen stared blankly ahead, as if he had forgotten Inigo entirely. It only took a moment’s glance to see why. A sword had stabbed cleanly through the Risen’s heart from behind. As the creature’s body vanished in a puff of violet smoke, he saw Severa glaring at him. His composure broke, and his jaw hung open in surprise. Realizing how stupid he must have looked, he shook it off and flashed her a grin.

“Nice of you to drop by. I was starting to think–”

“Don’t even _start_ with me,” Severa growled. “Yarne was screaming his head off about how you two were probably dead.”

There was a low groan – the telltale sound of another Risen. Inigo spotted the glowing red eyes amid the darkness. Severa whirled around and stabbed the undead axeman in the gut. It raised its axe to cleave her head open, but she ducked to the side and slashed again at its side. The body faded into nothing but smoke, but they couldn’t rest now. More Risen were surely on their way.

She shouted back to Inigo, “Cynthia and the others had better hurry up! Theirs are the only gemstones left!”

Inigo nodded, and he couldn’t help but smile a bit – how unlike Severa to take the optimistic view. He would’ve expected her to be the first to assume that Gules and Azure would never make it to Ylisstol.

“What’s that grin about?” Severa snapped.

He ran his hand through his hair. “Oh, nothing.”

“Then hurry up and get back to fighting! We didn’t rush down here so you could just sit around!” Severa charged off towards a Risen that was eying them almost hungrily.

“Wait, did you just say–?”

As if in response to his question, he heard the familiar screech of Gerome’s wyvern. Inigo glanced skyward and spotted the winged reptile gliding down from a ruined tower, Gerome sitting astride her back. He held an axe with a wickedly sharp blade as the wyvern dive-bombed a pair of Risen archers. The wyvern crunched down on one of them, and Gerome threw the hand-axe. It lodged itself in the Risen’s skull. His wyvern lifted the hand-axe with her teeth, shaking it free of the Risen’s body, and craned her neck to hand it back to Gerome. They took flight again, and Inigo realized that the Risen’s body hadn’t vanished, like it should have.

The undead reached for her fallen bow and hobbled to her feet, groaning in pain. Blood dripped from her agape mouth as she aimed an arrow at the unprotected back of the wyvern. Inigo charged as fast as his exhausted feet could carry him.

“Gerome! Dive!” he shouted.

He didn’t glance to see if Gerome had heard him. Inigo lunged the very moment he was in range. His sword plunged into the Risen’s chest. The Risen grabbed him by the arm and threw him to the ground with surprising strength. Inigo cried out as his head hit a rock.

The Risen threw her bow aside and unsheathed a shortsword in the same movement. The blade only struck solid ground as Inigo rolled away from the strike. He leapt to his feet and jabbed. The Risen parried the blow, and the clang of metal rang through the area. His arm quivering, Inigo struggled to counter the Risen’s frenzied blows. The Risen pushed him back until his foot hit the stairs. He was back where he started, which meant…

A wooden staff hit the Risen on the back of the head. The Risen whirled around and slashed at her new attacker. Brady tried to repel the blow, holding out his staff as if it were a sword, but the Risen cleaved right through the brittle wood. It snapped in two. The Risen raised her arm to strike again, and Inigo stabbed her through the back. He heaved a sigh of relief when the Risen finally dissipated into purple smoke.

“Are you alright?” Inigo wheezed.

“I… I think so…” Brady was shaking so much that Inigo was sure he was about to fall over.

Brady stared at the broken staff clenched in his hands and seemed to fight back a sob. Gritting his teeth, he tugged the red stone off the end of the staff and dropped it into the large pocket of his robe. Brady let the remains of the staff drop to the ground, and they tumbled down the stairs before coming to a stop at the scorched ground.

“Ma’d kill me if she saw what I did to her ol’ staff…”

Inigo clapped his hand on Brady’s shoulder. “I don’t think so. I think she’d be proud of you for saving my life. Besides, victory always comes at a cost. She’d understand that.”

His smile didn’t seem to console Brady in the slightest; the other man only nodded sullenly. Tears formed at the edges of his eyes.

“Hey, after this, we’ll build a new one. Maybe Owain will even give it a really ridiculous name.” That brought a small smile out of Brady, and Inigo gently pushed him farther up the stairs. “Get into a tower and keep a lookout for Cynthia’s group.”

“But…” Brady sighed. “Right… Alright… Ya’d better not die.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Inigo turned away as Brady dashed up the stairs.

Just as he was about to leave to try and find Severa or Gerome, a familiar scream made him turn back around. Brady was scrambling away from a lumbering Risen with a bloodstained lance. Inigo took the stairs two at a time as he rushed up. With a cry, he slashed at the Risen’s face. The Risen didn’t even react to the blow. Inigo followed it through with a stab at the Risen’s chest, but the Risen raised his weapon at the same moment. The cold metal of the spear plunged through Inigo’s stomach just as the Risen vanished before his eyes.

Inigo dropped his sword. It clattered louder than thunder as it struck the ground. Brady was mouthing something, but he couldn’t hear it. In shock, he looked down at the spear that had impaled his body. Blood spurted from the wound. His legs finally gave out, and he fell back.

He couldn’t even manage a cry of pain when his head hit the stones of the stairs. His vision rapidly getting cloudier, Inigo stared at the sky. The smoke of the burning city filled the air, blocking the sun. The broken towers looked like they’d fall over at any second. Somewhere atop that ruined castle, Lucina and the others were waiting for the miracle that would save their world.

Brady’s face came into view. His tears fell onto Inigo’s face. It took Inigo several moments to remember that Brady’s staff had been broken. There was nothing he could do.

“Don’t cry,” Inigo hoarsely whispered.

“Ya can’t die!” Brady shouted. He grabbed Inigo by the shoulders. “Keep yer eyes open! Look at me! Don’t…”

The adrenaline seemed to leave him, and he trailed off, choked by sobs. There was something desperate in the way he held Inigo, as if holding on tight enough would keep Inigo connected to the world of the living.

A resonating roar shook the earth. It sounded almost like a dragon, but it wasn’t the horrifying, triumphant cries of Grima that they had heard countless times before. Inigo felt almost comforted by the sound, though he wasn’t sure what had made it.

Brady’s jaw dropped, and for a precious moment, the tears were stilled. “Is that..?”

Brady and Inigo stared at the sky. It filled with a white flash of light that seemed to start at the battlements and then enveloped the whole world.

The Awakening.

When the light vanished, nothing around them looked any different; Ylisstol still burned. The castle was still a mere husk of its former self. The earth was still dry and barren. But Grima’s presence seemed to be gone, like a nightmare chased away by the rising sun.

Inigo let his head fall back. He tried to open his mouth and tell Brady not to cry anymore, but his body no longer had the energy for even that. The world grew foggier. His eyes couldn’t focus anymore, not even on Brady. Without a sound, Inigo closed his eyes.

Victory always came at a cost.


End file.
